Goalkeepers

Some say that stopping a penalty in soccer is the hardest thing to do in sports. There is no real penalty saving trick. The net is so large, the ball so small, and the shot is coming from such a close range that keepers must guess which way they are going to dive before the ball is hit to have a chance at saving it. Even if they dive in the correct direction it is unlikely they’ll be able to stop it. If they’re unlucky and dive the wrong direction, well, let’s just say that every keeper in the world has been left on the proverbial other side of the coin. 

Where counterattacks are concerned, the keeper's job is distribution. Get the ball, get it to one of the field players, put everything in motion then get back in your goal. 

This is not what Nacional's U-14 goalkeeper, Guillermo Centurion (what a name!) had in mind when he intercepted a corner kick. 

Instead of distributing to a field player, he distributed to himself. Then he led the counter, dribbled the length of the field, embarassed the other team's keeper and coolly slotted the ball home.

Memo Ochoa probably just needs a new team at this point.

The Mexican goalkeeper has fallen far from the lofty heights he achieved as one of the breakout players of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, having appeared only once so far for Spanish club Malaga so far this season.

That appearance came earlier this week in the Copa del Rey against Mirandes. Malaga lost, 2-1, which means something drastic is probably going to have to happen for Ochoa to see the field.

For a moment, Gonzalo Bueno on the Uruguayan U20 national team saw his dreams laid out in front of him. He got on the end of a perfect pass, played it brilliantly, got past a defender and a goalkeeper without even touching the ball. The net was gaping and it must have felt like something out of a childhood fantasy. Perhaps that thought was too mesmerizing, because instead of scoring, he made a fool of himself.

We're not a website that tends to complain about refereeing decisions, but we think Mohamed Sokhra might have a legitimate grip here. 

Sokhra was kind enough to do the ref's job for him by removing a pitch invader from the field, walking the rogue over to the official, gripping the man's collar. 

After Sokhra had delivered the hooligan to the proper autorities, the referee tossed him out of the game, just as he had tossed the pitch invader out.

We know. It makes no sense to us either. 

I wonder what was going through the mind of ADO goal keeper Martin Hansen before his teammate swung in a free kick in the 95th minute of ADO vs PSV. Was he thinking of glory? Maybe he was just hoping dearly that the ball wouldn’t fly anywhere close to him — actually scratch that. There is absolutely no way Hansen does what you are about to witness if he is thinking, “Oh God, please just not me.”

Martin Hansen just scored the front runner for the goal of the year, and he did it in stoppage time to tie the game, as a goal keeper…with a flying back heel. 

First, it must be said that it's hard to give Petr Cech too hard a time about the thumping he took in Arsenal's season opener against West Brom. Despite the fact that the newly-minted Gunner gave up two pedestrian goals against West Brom, the former Chelsea striker does have more clean sheets in Premier League openers than any other keeper.

In their latest attempt to intimidate the Turkish Premier League, Fenerbahce have released video of their keepers performing superhuman feats of gymnastics and goalkeeping AT THE SAME TIME!

This is just about one of the most tiring thing we have ever seen. I can feel my thighs starting to burn just watching.